November is Adoption Awareness Month in North Carolina

Is there a child waiting for you?

Release Date: November 21, 2008
Contact: Lori Walston, 919-733-9190

RALEIGH: Governor Mike Easley has proclaimed November as Adoption Awareness Month in North Carolina. This is the time set aside to celebrate adoptive families, and note that there are thousands of children who still need a permanent home and loving family.

Last year, in North Carolina alone, more than 1,700 youth exited foster care to adoptive homes and there are nearly 800 more waiting for permanent homes. Most are nine-years-old or older, minorities or sibling groups who need families to provide loving care, support as they develop, and a home to come back to as they grow into adulthood. Creating families through adoption is a wonderful way to build families and to make meaningful contributions to the lives of children and youth.

North Carolina has passed legislation and implemented policies that have strengthened supports to families who have adopted children from foster care.

Throughout the month, local departments of social services and adoption placement agencies across North Carolina are celebrating the joys and expressing the needs of adoption.

If you are interested in adoption, contact your local county department of social services for information specific to your community and speak to families who have adopted. Consider stretching beyond what you thought was possible and consider the impact your involvement may have in the life of a child.
As revealed in the national campaign for adoption, “You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent: There are thousands of teens in foster care who would love to put up with you.”

For more information on the adoption program and services, visit www.ncdhhs.gov/dss/ or telephone 1-877-NCKIDS1.